Organic carbon analyzer system

ABSTRACT

An organic carbon analyzer system particularly adapted for the continuous analysis of raw sewage of a municipality. A gaseous transport is provided for carrying acidified liquid sewage including dispersed particulate matter through an elongated aeration chamber wherein carbon dioxide evolved from inorganic salts diffuses away from the sewage and into the gas. A second gaseous transport free of carbon dioxide and including an oxidizing agent then carries the sewage into a heated chamber having a tortuous interior surface which provides sufficient retention time to oxidize organic carbonaceous materials of the sewage resulting in a second evolution of carbon dioxide. An analyzer provides a continuous reading of the concentration of the carbon dioxide produced in the heated chamber.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This is a division of application Ser. No. 473,116 filed May 24, 1974,now U.S. Pat. No. 3,964,868 which issued on June 22, 1976.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to a system providing a continuous monitoring oforganic carbonaceous matter and, more particularly, a system adapted tocontinuously monitor raw sewage by the separation of organic andinorganic sources of carbonaceous matter and the measurement of carbondioxide by the use of a gaseous transport which renders the equipmentsubstantially free of clogging by the sewage.

There is growing interest in the protection of the environment from thebiproducts of industry such as the discharge of sewage into a river.Such industrial waste frequently contains polluting matter which must becarefully monitored for proper control of pollutants in a program ofenvironmental protection. One class of pollutants is of organic matter,the concentration of which may be measured by chemical reactions inwhich the carbon of the organic matter is combined with oxygen in whichcase the amount of carbon dioxide produced or the amount of oxygenconsumed is utilized as a measure of the carbon and, hence, of theconcentration of the organic matter. Examples of such processes areshown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,322,504 which issued in the name of I. A.Capuano on May 30, 1967; U.S. Pat. No. 3,459,938 which issued in thename of V. A. Stenger et al on Aug. 5, 1969; and U.S. Pat. No. 3,703,355which issued in the name of Y. Takahashi et al on Nov. 21, 1972.

The prior art teaches a number of systems for the measurement of carbonand oxygen by the generation of carbon dioxide, the amount thereof beingmeasured with an infrared spectrometer. Some of these prior art systemsinclude combustion chambers adapted for the combusting of measureddiscrete samples of sewage or other matter which is to be analyzed.Inorganic material is removed in some of these systems by aprecipitation procedure.

A problem arises in that precise monitoring of the substances in rawsewage necessitates the use of equipment capable of providing acontinuous measurement of the amount of inorganic carbonaceous matterpresent in the raw sewage. A further problem arises in that thematerials of the raw sewage tend to precipitate along the interiorsurfaces of tubes and chambers of the equipmentthereby clogging theequipment and rendering it useless. Such clogging frequentlynecessitates a staff of support personnel who shutdown the equipment atregular intervals for unclogging the equipment while, in many municipalinstallations, it would be preferable to operate the installation withlittle or no staff.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The aforementioned problems are overcome and other advantages areprovided by a system comprising, in accordance with the invention, twochambers for containing chemical reactions and two streams of gas whichserve as transports for carrying sewage matter, respectively, throughthe two chambers. Thus, there are provided an elongated chamber and agaseous transport for carrying acidified sewage therethrough, theelongated chamber providing a sufficiently long dwell time during whichacid, previously added to the sewage, can react with inorganic salts toevolve carbon dioxide which diffuses into the gas of the transport toeffect the separation of carbon dioxide of inorganic sources from thesewage. The gas and the liquid sewage experience a turbulent fluid flowin the chamber which ensures a thorough mixing of the acid with thesewage and the mixing of the sewage with the gas to ensure a thoroughremoval of the evolved carbon dioxide. The gas is then separated fromthe liquid by means of a gravity-operated trap in the form of a teewhich permits the liquid portion ofthe fluid to settle in a downwardlyprojecting leg of the tee.

The liquid sewage is then metered into a rapidly moving stream of gascontaining an oxidizing agent, such as oxygen, which produces aturbulent flow of the gas with droplets of the liquid, this gas servingas a transport for carrying the liquid into a heated combustion chamberhaving, in a preferred embodiment a tortuous interior surface providedby means of alumina balls positioned between inconel walls, whichensures a sufficiently long retention time within the combustion chamberto provide thorough oxidation of organic carbonaceous matter of thesewage, this oxidation resulting in a second evolution of carbondioxide. The effluent of the combustion chamber is then chilled in acondensing unit to separate the water of the sewage from the carbondioxide and unused oxygen of the gaseous transport. The carbon dioxideconcentration is then measured by an infrared spectrometer. The use ofthe turbulent flowing gaseous transport in the elongated aerationchamber significantly inhibits the formation of a precipitate on theinterior walls of the chamber thereby eliminating a source of clogging.A flushing system is provided for forcing cold water through thecombustion chamber at intervals of approximately one week, each flushingoperation lasting approximately 1 to 3 hours during which times thethermally induced dimensional changes resulting from the sudden coolingfrom a typical operating temperature of 850° C loosen any precipitate orscale which may have formed to facilitate the dissolving of such scalein the flushing water. For example, such scale may include salts, suchas sodium chloride, which is deposited when the water of the sewage isconverted to steam. A major portion of the time elapsed during theone-to-three hour flushing operation is utilized for reheating thecombustion chamber to bring it back up to operating temperature.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The aforementioned features and other aspects of the invention areexplained in the following description taken in connection with theaccompanying drawings wherein:

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an organic carbon analyzer system inaccordance with the invention;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of an acidifier of FIG. 1 utilized inacidifying raw sewage;

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a forced gas supply of FIG. 1 whichprovides the gaseous transports as well as reference gases forcalibrating a carbon dioxide analyzer utilized in the system of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a diagram of an analyzer system of FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is a diagram of a carbon dioxide extractor of FIG. 1 disclosingan aeration chamber and combustion chamber of the invention;

FIG. 6 is an axial sectional view of the combustion chamber;

FIG. 7 is a sectional view of the combustion chamber taken along theline 7--7 in FIG. 6;

FIG. 8 is an axial sectional view of a condenser utilized in analternative embodiment of the invention for cooling the effluent of thecombustion chamber taken along the line 8--8 of FIG. 9;

FIG. 9 is a sectional view of the condenser taken along the line 9--9 ofFIG. 8; and

FIG. 10 shows diagrammatically the interconnection of the condenser ofFIGS. 8 and 9 with components of the extractor of FIG. 5.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Referring now to FIG. 1, there is seen a system 20 for extracting carbondioxide from the materials contained within raw sewage in accordancewith the invention, and for measuring the concentration of the portionof carbon dioxide evolved from organic carbonaceous matter. The system20 is seen to comprise an acidifier 22, an extractor 24 of carbondioxide, a system 26 for measuring the concentration of the carbondioxide, and a supply 28 of gases which are applied to the extractor 24to serve as fluid transports and to the analyzer system 26 forcalibrating an analyzer of carbon dioxide contained therein. Raw sewageis applied continuously along line 30 to the acidifier 22 which,preferably includes means (not shown), such as that disclosed incopending application Ser. No. 440,439, and now abandoned filed in thenames of G. E. Anderson and G. V. Morris, that cuts and grinds solidmatter of the sewage into particulate matter which is sufficiently fineto remain in suspension during the carbon dioxide extraction process ofthe extractor 24. The acidifier 22 also injects acid, such ashydrochloric acid or sulfuric acid, in a concentration in the range from0.5 to 5 normal into the sewage to provide a pH of approximately 2, andthen continuously applies the acidified liquid sewage along line 32 tothe extractor 24. The extractor 24 has an elongated chamber, to bedescribed hereinafter, which retains the continuously flowing liquidsewage for a sufficiently long time to permit the completion of achemical reaction between the acid and inorganic carbonaceous matter,such as calcium carbonate. The reaction has carbon dioxide as one of itsproducts which is ejected along line 34 by means of air which is appliedalong line 36 to the extractor 24 from the gas supply 28. The mixing ofthe air on line 36 with the liquid sewage for absorbing the carbondioxide evolved from the acidification will be described hereinafterwith reference to FIG. 5.

After the removal of the carbon dioxide from the inorganic material online 54, the remaining carbonaceous matter is organic material which isoxidized with an oxidant provided along line 38, the oxidant being airfree of carbon dioxide or a mixture of nitrogen and oxygen, to producecarbon dioxide on line 40. The remainder of the liquid of the sewage isdischarged as waste along line 42. The operation of the gas supply 28 insupplying the gases on line 36 and 38 to the extractor 24, as well asthe supplying of the gases on line 44 for calibrating an analyzer withinthe system 26 will be described hereinafter with reference to FIG. 3.

As will be seen subsequently with reference to FIG. 5, the gasesprovided along lines 36 and 38 serve as a transport for carrying theliquid, respectively, through an aeration chamber for the removal of thecarbon dioxide from the inorganic matter and through a high temperaturereactor for combusting the organic material and the removal of thecarbon dioxide evolved therefrom. The use of the gaseous transports is afeature of the invention which inhibits the formation of precipitatesand scale within fluid conduits of the extractor 24 and, furthermore,enhances the absorption of carbon dioxide in the aeration chamber andpromotes a uniform heating of material in the high temperature reactorto ensure complete combustion of the organic matter.

Referring now to FIG. 2, there is seen a block diagram of the acidifier22 which receives raw sewage from the tank 46 along line 30, anddischarges acidified sewage along line 32 to the extractor 24. In thisfigure, the line 30 is shown as a tubular conduit for conducting theliquid sewage. The acidifier 22 comprises a cutter 48, a source 50 of areference sewage of known concentration of carbonaceous matter, a tank52 for the storage of acid utilized in acidifying the sewage, pumps 54and 56 for pumping, respectively, sewage and acid, and a selector valve58 which selects either the raw sewage from the cutter 48 or thereference sewage from the source 50. The cutter 48 may include, by wayof example, a motor driven set of blades for breaking up solid matterinto relatively small portions and a motor driven grindstone, asdisclosed in the aforementioned patent application of G. E. Anderson andG. V. Morris, for further grinding the small portions into fineparticulate matter which can remain in suspension in the liquid of thesewage for periods of time up to approximately one-half hour. The outletof the cutter 48 and the outlet of the reference source 50 areselectively coupled by the selector valve 58 to the pump 54. The tank 52is coupled via a tubular conduit or line 60 to the pump 56. The outputsof the pumps 54 and 56 are joined via a tubular tee section 62 whichcombines the sewage pumped by the pump 54 with the acid pumped by thepump 56, the output of the tee 62 appearing on line 32.

Each of the pumps 54 and 56 operates at a predetermined constant speed,the pump 54 pumping the liquid sewage at a fixed rate of approximately 6cc (cubic centimeters) per minute while the pump 56 pumps the acid at afixed rate of approximately 0.05 cc per minute. The selection of theconcentration of the acid is based upon the buffering capacity of thesewage in the tank 46 and has a molarity within the aforementioned rangeof 0.5-5 equivalents per liter. Each of the pumps 54 and 56 ispreferably a peristaltic pump wherein rollers are driven along adistensible tube, the rollers progressively squeezing the tube toadvance the fluid therein at the predetermined rate.

Referring now to FIG. 3, there is seen a block diagram of the forced gassupply 28 which is seen to comprise tanks 64 and 66 for storing,respectively, air which is free of carbon dioxide and a reference supplyof pressurized air containing a predetermined concentration of carbondioxide. Alternatively, in lieu of the air within the tanks 64 and 66, apair of tanks (not shown) containing nitrogen and oxygen may be utilizedto provide a mixture of 80% nitrogen and 20% oxygen on line 68 and amixture of 78% nitrogen, 20% oxygen and 2% carbon dioxide on line 70.While the air provided on line 36 need not be free of carbon dioxide,for convenience, a single tank 64 is shown for supplying both the lines36 and 38. Two pumps 72 and 74, which may be peristaltic pumps, arecoupled via a tee 76 to line 68 for pumping the gas from the tank 64,respectively, along lines 36 and 38 to the extractor 24 of FIG. 1. Thepumps 72 and 74 are provided with knobs 78 and 80 which select apredetermined constant speed of pumping. As will be seen, the selectablepumping speed of the pump 74 is particularly useful in calibrating thesystem 20 of FIG. 1. A line 82 and the line 38 are joined to the pump 74via a tee 84, the line 82 providing a gas free of carbon dioxide to theanalyzer system 26 of FIG. 1. The lines 82 and 70 of FIG. 3 arerepresented in FIG. 1 by the single line 44. While earlier embodiment ofthe invention have utilized pure oxygen as the oxidant on line 38, ithas been found that a fast moving stream of air free of carbon dioxideor the mixture of 80% nitrogen and 20% oxygen adequately combusts theorganic matter of the sewage.

Referring now to FIG. 4, there is seen a block diagram of the system 26containing an analyzer 86 for the measurement of the concentration ofthe carbon dioxide applied from the extractor 24 along line 40. Agraphical recorder 88 is coupled to the analyzer 86 and provides arecord of the carbon dioxide concentration as a function of time. Thesystem 26 also comprises two selector valves 90 and 92 which selectivelycouple the analyzer 86 to line 40 from the extractor 24 of FIG. 1, or toeither the lines 70 and 82 from the gas supply 28 of FIGS. 1 and 3. Theanalyzer 86 is a standard form of infrared analyzer of carbon dioxidewhich is available commercially, such as, for example, an infraredanalyzer made by the Mine Safety Appliances of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania,having Model No. LIRA300 or LIRA303. Such an infrared analyzer comprisesan infrared source and an optical bench including a cell of a referencegas and provides an output electrical signal in response to theinteraction of carbon dioxide with the infrared radiation.

The analyzer system 26 is calibrated by setting the selector valves 90and 92 to admit gas free of carbon dioxide from line 82 in order toobtain a zero reading on the recorder 88, then the selector valve 90 isswitched to line 70 to admit the predetermined concentration of carbondioxide to give a full scale reading on the recoder 88. The entiresystem 20 of FIG. 1 is then calibrated by setting the selector valve 92to admit gases from line 40 and the selector valve 58 of FIG. 2 is setto admit sewage from the reference source 50. The pump 74 of FIG. 3 isthen adjusted by the knob 80 for adjusting the rate of flow of theoxidant on line 38 until the recorder 88 shows a carbon dioxideconcentration consistent with the known concentration of organiccarbonaceous material of the reference sewage provided by the source 50of FIG. 2. This adjustment of calibration permits the system 20 of FIG.1 to give a continuous reading of the concentration of organiccarbonaceous material in the sewage as it continuously flows along line30 in contradistinction to the batch-type processing utilized by systemsof the prior art.

Referring now to FIG. 5, there is seen a diagram of the carbon dioxideextractor 24 which comprises an aerator 94 for the removal of carbondioxide from inorganic matter and a reactor 96 for the removal of carbondioxide from organic matter. The aerator 94 is composed of a chamber 98having an elongated tubular form which, in a preferred embodiment of theinvention, has a length L of 4 feet and an inside diameter ofapproximately 1/8 inch. The aerator 94 is coupled via lines 32 and 36,respectively, to the acidifier 22 and the supply 28 of FIG. 1. Thecarbon dioxide evolved in the aerator 94 escapes via line 34, seenpreviously in FIG. 1. Air, free of carbon dioxide, flows into thechamber 98 via line 36 at a rate of approximately 2500 ml/min(milliliters per minute) and joins at a tee 100 with acidified sewageflowing along line 32 at approximately 6 ml/min. Since the volume of thechamber 98 is approximately 10 cc, it is seen that the air flows pastthe tee 100 at a rate of approximately 16 feet per second, this rate offlow being sufficiently fast to entrain small droplets of the acidifiedsewage dispersed in a turbulent flow of gas. The chamber 98 is disposedvertically and the viscous forces of the flowing gas are slightlygreater than the downward pull of gravity so that the droplets of sewageare seen to rise slowly through the chamber 98. The turbulentenvironment within the chamber 98 is believed to altigate against theprecipitation of sewage matter upon the walls of the chamber 98 andthereby maintain the aerator 94 free of clogging.

At the top of the aerator 94, a second tee 102 is coupled to the chamber98 and inclined slightly, at an angle of approximately 15° with thehorizontal, with its center leg positioned in a generally downwarddirection to collect droplets of the sewage while the air with theevolved carbon dioxide escapes through the open sidearm of the tee 102.A pump 104 is coupled to the center leg of the tee 102 via a line 106,the pump 104 being preferably a peristaltic pump, such as the pump 54 ofFIG. 2, the pump 104 pumping liquid from the line 106 at a constant rateof approximately 3 ml/min. Since the sewage enters the bottom end of thechamber 98 at the aforementioned rate of 6 ml/min, this being in excessof the fluid flow in the line 106 by an amount of 3 ml/min, the excessliquid also escapes through the open sidearm of the tee 102 at a rate of3 ml/min in addition to the aforementioned flow of gas at the rate ofapproximately 2500 ml/min. Thus, it is seen that the line 106 and thecenter leg of the tee 102 serve as a well for storing sewage from whichthe carbon dioxide associated with inorganic matter has been removed.

The extractor 24 further comprises a pump 108, a check valve 110, tees112 and 114, a water jacket 116 which is re-entrant into the reactor 96,a condenser 118, sources 120 and 122 of cool water coupled,respectively, to the water jacket 116 and the condenser 118, a selectorvalve 124, a trap 126 and a tee 128. The reactor 96, which will bedescribed further with reference to FIGS. 6 and 7, operates at a hightemperature in the range of 850° to 1000° C to promote a chemicalreaction between organic matter in the sewage delivered by the pump 104and the oxidizing agent delivered via line 38, seen also in FIG. 1, andthe check valve 110. The pump 104 delivers the sewage via line 130 tothe center leg of the tee 114. The oxidant, previously disclosed asbeing either a mixture of air which is free of carbon dioxide or amixture of nitrogen and oxygen, flows from the check valve 110 via asidearm and the center leg of the tee 112 into a sidearm of the tee 114whereupon it joins with the flow of sewage from line 130 and passes viathe other sidearm of the tee 114 through the reentrant water jacket 116into the reactor 96. Alternatively, pure oxygen may be utilized as theoxidant. Stoichiometrically, approximately 8 ml of oxygen per minute arerequired for completely combusting the organic matter entering alongline 130; however, in the event that pure oxygen is utilized in thepreferred embodiment of the invention, approximately 50 times thestoichiometric quantity of oxygen is utilized so that 400 ml/min ofoxygen is provided. If the air is utilized, it is applied at the samerate of 400 ml/min even though there is approximately four times as muchnitrogen as oxygen, there still being sufficient oxygen for completecombustion. As was noted earlier with reference to FIGS. 3 and 4, theflow rate of the oxidant is set in the calibration of the analyzersystem 26. Just as was described previously with reference to the tee100 in the aerator 94, the high speed gas flow through the tee 114disperses fine droplets of the sewage liquid entering from line 130 sothat the droplets of sewage are thoroughly intermixed with the oxidantas they pass through the water jacket 116. The water jacket 116maintains the temperature of the sewage therein below boilingtemperature so that there is no precipitation of salts or scale at theentry port of the reactor 96; the raising of the temperature of thesewage to the aforementioned high temperature range (850° C-1000° C) andthe attendant precipitation of dissolved salts, such as sodium chloride,occurs only within the reactor 96 itself. The sidearms of the tee 114,including the innermost passageway of the water jacket 116, have aninner diameter of 1/16 inch in the preferred embodiment of theinvention, this inner diameter being one-half the aforementioned underdiameter of the chamber 98, to further increase the speed of the gasesrushing past the terminus of the center leg of the tee 114 for increaseddispersion of the droplets of sewage in the line 130.

In particular, it is noted that the diameter of the inlet tube 132 tothe reactor 96 and the chamber 98 each have inner diametersapproximating the diameter of a droplet of water which is believed topromote agitation between liquid and flowing gas directly on the innersurfaces of these tubes to inhibit the formation of precipitatesthereon.

In addition to the lack of clogging which is made possible by theaforementioned structure which inhibits the formation of precipitates, amore precise measurement of the carbon dioxide emanating from theorganic matter is attained. For example, it has been observed withaerators or sparging systems antedating that of the present invention,that precipitates of organic matter on the interior walls of suchsparging systems have a tendancy to flake off at irregular intervalswith the result that excessively low values of carbon dioxide areobtained during such time as the organic matter is accumulating on theseinterior surfaces while excessively large values of carbon dioxide areobtained when the organic precipitates flake off. This is a particularlycritical problem in sewage analysis systems employed in situations inwhich rapid responses in carbon dioxide measurement are requiredcorresponding to rapid changes in the concentration of organic matter inthe sewage. The instant system is able to give continuous readings ofcarbon dioxide which rapidly and accurately follow changes inconcentration of organic matter in sewage.

The output of the reactor 96 is coupled by the selector valve 124 to aline 134 and is passed via the line 134 to the condenser 118. Thecondenser 118 comprises an outer jacket containing the cooling watersfrom the source 122 for condensing the droplets of liquid sewage and theproducts of combustion while the carbon dioxide of the combustionproceeds onward via line 40 to the analyzer system 26 of FIG. 1. Thecondensed liquid flows downwardly through the tee 128 and through thetrap 126 to exit via line 42, seen also in FIG. 1, as liquid waste. Theliquid within the trap 126 serves the dual functions of inhibiting theescape of carbon dioxide via line 42 as well as preventing the entry ofatmospheric carbon dioxide to the analyzer system 26 via the line 42 andthe condenser 118

While the structure of the reactor 96 and the reentrant water jacket 116substantially inhibits the formation of precipitates and scale withinthe reactor 96, it has been found that there may be a very gradualaccumulation of such scale which is preferably removed at intervals ofapproximately once per week. This removal of scale is accomplished byenergizing the flush pump 108 to force water through the tees 112 and114 and through the inlet tube 132 to pass through the reactor 56 fordissolving out soluble salts, such as the aforementioned sodiumchloride, the cold water serving to dislodge such scale by the suddenlyinduced dimensional changes due to the sudden change in temperature ofthe reactor 96 from a typical operating temperature, such as theaforementioned 1000° C to the temperature of cool water. During theflushing operation, the selector valve 124 is coupled in its alternateposition to a drain tube 136 so that the flushing water passes throughthe drain tube 136 rather than through the line 134. During the flushingoperation, the check valve 110 prevents the flush water from enteringthe oxidant line 38. It is also noted that, by way of alternativeembodiment to be disclosed with reference to FIGS. 8-10, a condensersimilar to the condenser 118 may be mounted directly beneath the reactor96 to ensure that the reactor effluent has been cooled prior to itsreaching the selector valve 124. In that embodiment, the flushing waterwould pass through the condenser and the selector valve 124 would ensurethat the flush water would not pass via line 40 to the analyzer system26.

Referring now to FIGS. 6 and 7, there are shown, respectively, alongitudinal sectional view of the reactor 96 taken along the line 6--6of FIG. 7, and a sectional view of the reactor 96 taken transversely ofthe longitudinal axis along the line 7--7 of FIG. 6. The reactor 96comprises an outer pipe 138, a cover 140 affixed via a V-band retainerring assembly 142 to the upper rim of the outer pipe 138 and having acentral aperture through which the water jacket 116 passes and issecured to the cover 140, an inner pipe 144 which is joined to the outerpipe 138 by vanes 146, the pipes 138 and 144 and the vanes 146 beingfabricated from a material such as inconel metal which is substantiallyinert to the sewage material even at the elevated temperatures ofapproximately 1000° C, a conically-shaped cover to be referred tohereinafter as a hat 148 positioned beneath the inlet tube 132 andsecured to the inner pipe 144 for directing the flow of effluent fromthe inlet tube 132 to the region between the inner pipe 144 and theouter pipe 138, heater elements 150 enclosed along their exterior bythermal insulation 152 and positioned by a casing 153 around theexterior of the outer pipe 138, and a funnel-shaped base 154 secured tothe bottom of the outer pipe 138.

The water jacket 116 is seen to comprise an inner chamber 156 coupled toan inlet tube 158, and an outer chamber 160 joined at its lower end tothe inner chamber 156 and at its upper end to an outlet tube 162, seenalso in FIG. 5. Cool water from the aforementioned source 120 passesdownwardly through the inner chamber 156 and upwardly through the outerchamber 160 for cooling the inlet tube 132 removing heat conductedthereto by radiation from the heater elements 150 and by conductionthrough the cover 140.

In a preferred embodiment of the invention, alumina balls 164 are placedin the regions between the vanes 146 for providing a tortuous path withthe attendant improved dispersion of and heating of matter entering thereactor 96 via the inlet tube 132. The inner pipe 144 has an outerdiameter of approximately 1.6 inches and a length of approximately 7inches. The inner diameter of the outer pipe 138 is approximately 3inches.

In operation, therefor, the heater elements 150, which are energized byan external source of electric power (not shown), supply 1600 watts ofheat to the reactor 96, the heat being communicated via the outer pipe138, the cover 140, the vanes 146 and the hat 148 to an antechamber 160having an axial length of approximately 4 inches which preheats theeffluent of the inlet tube 132 as the effluent travels from the bottomend of the inlet tube 132 to the hat 148. The heat is furthercommunicated via the vanes 146 to the inner pipe 144 and to the balls164 for vaporizing any water admitted via the inlet tube 132 and forcombusting organic matter with oxygen admitted via the inlet tube 132.The volume of the reactor 96 and the length of the tortuous pathsbetween the balls 164 in combination with the aforementioned rates ofgaseous and liquid sewage flow through the inlet tube 132 provide forsufficient retention time within the reactor 96 to ensure completecombustion of the organic sewage matter with the oxygen. The balls 164are fabricated from the aforesaid alumina since the alumina has beenfound to communicate heat to the gases passing through the reactor 96while being substantially inert to chemical reactions with the organicmatter of the sewage and with the oxygen and nitrogen admitted by theinlet tube 132. The base 154 may be made of copper, if desired, tofurther ensure complete combustion since copper acts as a catalyst forthe combustion.

Referring now to FIGS. 8 and 9, there are shown views of a condenser168, FIG. 8 showing a sectional view taken along a longitudinal axis ofthe condenser 168 along line 8--8 of FIG. 9, and FIG. 9 showing asectional view taken transversely of the longitudinal axis along line9--9 of FIG. 8. The condenser 168 is utilized in an alternativeembodiment of the system 20 of FIG. 1 and replaces the condenser 118 ofFIG. 5, the condenser 168 being secured to the outlet at the bottom ofthe base 154 of the reactor 96 and serving to couple the reactor 96 tothe selector valve 124 of FIG. 5. The condenser 168 comprises a set ofseven tubes 170 which are spaced apart to permit the flow of coolingwater among them and which are coupled between an inlet chamber 172 andan outlet chamber 174. The inlet chamber 172 has a curved floor member176 having apetures therein for positioning the upper ends of each ofthe tubes 170. The outlet chamber 174 has a floor member 178 havingapetures for the positioning of the lower ends of the tubes 170. Thecondenser 168 is enclosed by an outer case 180 having an upper endsection 182, which is an extension of the outer pipe 138 of FIG. 6, anda lower end section 184 to which are secured, respectively, the floormembers 176 and 178. The upper end section 182 accepts the base 154 ofthe reactor 96 while the lower end section 184 is flared to form an exitport 185. An inlet tube 186 positioned near the lower end section 184admits water to the water chamber 188 which comprises the region boundedbetween the curved floor members 176 and 178 and the space between thetubes 170. An outlet tube 190 positioned nearer the upper end section182 allows the exit of cooling water from the water chamber 188. Theexit port 185 is coupled to the trap 126 via the selector valve 124.

Referring also to FIG. 10, there is seen a diagram of a portion of theextractor 24 in the alternative embodiment wherein the condenser 168 iscoupled to the base of the reactor 96. A tube 192 angled in a downwarddirection within the outlet chamber 174 couples gases therefrom to theanalyzer system 26 via the selector valve 124. The lower end section 184is seen coupled to the trap 126 whereby condensed gases, particularlywater, exit from the outlet chamber 174 to escape as waste liquid online 42. In this alternative embodiment of the reactor 24A, the couplingof the trap 126 and the selector valve 124 are seen to have a differentarrangement from that utilized with the extractor 24 of FIG. 5.

In operation, therefor, the condenser 168 conducts exhaust gases fromthe reactor 96 through the tubes 170 which are surrounded by the coolingwater of the water chamber 188, the cooling water also chilling thecurved floor 176 of the inlet chamber 172, so that all of the substancesexiting from the base 154 of the reactor 96 experience a suddenchilling. It has been observed, experimentally, that this rapid chillinginhibits the adherence of precipitating material upon the inner walls ofthe condenser 168 which come in contact with the effluent of the reactor96 as well as the inner surface of the tube 192 through which theexhaust gases are conducted to the analyzer system 26. In the eventthat, over a long period of usage, a scale of adhering precipitousmatter is formed along the aforesaid inner surfaces of the condenser168, there is provided an array of jets 193 and an array of jets 194connected via lines 196 to a source 198 of high pressure water and whichare positioned for directing streams of water, respectively, against thelower tip of the base 154 and against the curved floor 176 and into thetubes 170 for flushing away such adhering scale. The flushing waterspromote sudden cooling with attendant dislodging of scale and are passedvia the exit port 185 in the lower end section 184 to be discharged viathe trap 126. The aforementioned flushing of the reactor 96 via theflush pump 108 of FIG. 5 may also be employed in this embodiment of theinvention in which case the flushing waters pass through both thereactor 96 and the condenser 168 to exit via the trap 126. During theseflushing operations, the selector valve 124 of FIG. 10 isadvantaegeously switched to couple the tube 192 to the drain tube 136 sothat any flushing waters which enter the tube 192 can be discharged viathe drain tube 136 to prevent their passing on to the analyzer system26.

It is understood that the above-described embodiments of the inventionare illustrative only and that modifications thereof may occur to thoseskilled in the art. Accordingly, it is desired that this invention isnot to be limited to the embodiments disclosed herein but is to belimited only as defined by the appended claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. An organic carbon analyzer systemcomprising:means for treating a material having inorganic and organiccarbonaceous substances to provide a first volatile compound of carbonfrom said inorganic carbonaceous substance; means coupled to saidtreating means for dispersing said material in a first gaseous carrier,said first gaseous carrier absorbing said first volatile compound fromsaid material; means coupled to said dispersing means for replacing saidfirst gaseous carrier with a second gaseous carrier free of said firstvolatile compound, said second gaseous carrier reacting with saidmaterial to provide a reacted material and a second volatile compound ofcarbon from said organic carbonaceous substance; means coupled to saidreplacing means for separating said second volatile compound and saidsecond gaseous carrier from said reacted material, said separating meanscomprising a passage for conducting said second volatile compound andsaid second gaseous carrier and said reacted material, said separatingmeans further comprising a chamber positioned adjacent said passage andholding water in proximity to said second volatile compound and saidsecond gaseous carrier and said reacted material for condensing saidreacted material; and means coupled to said passage of said separatingmeans for analyzing said second volatile compound.
 2. Incombination:means for treating liquid sewage having inorganic andorganic carbonaceous substances to provide a first gas having a compoundof carbon from said inorganic carbonaceous substance; means for forcinga second gas upwardly through a tube containing said liquid sewage, saidsecond gas entrapping droplets of said liquid with a viscous dragcomparable to the force of gravity acting on droplets of said liquid;means for separating said second gas from said entrapped droplets ofliquid; means for dispersing said separated droplets of liquid into athird gas; means for heating said third gas and said droplets of liquiddispersed therein, said heating means being configured to direct saidthird gas toward a region thereof having a maximum temperature forallowing a chemical reaction induced by said heating to go substantiallyto completion between materials suspended within said liquid sewage andsaid third gas; condensing means coupled to said heating means forreceiving said third gas and products of said chemical reactions saidcondensing means comprising a passage for conducting said third gas andsaid chemical reaction products said condensing means further comprisinga chamber positioned adjacent said passage for holding water inproximity to said third gas and said chemical reaction products andmeans coupled to said passage of said condensing means for analyzingsaid chemical reaction products.
 3. In combination:means for treating aliquid having inorganic and organic carbonaceous substances to provide afirst gas having a compound of carbon from said inorganic carbonaceoussubstance; means for directing a second gas upwardly through a tubecontaining said liquid, said second gas entrapping droplets of saidliquid with a viscous drag comparable to the force of gravity acting ondroplets of said liquid; means coupled to said directing means forseparating said second gas from entrapped droplets; means coupled tosaid separating means for dispersing said droplets of liquid into athird gas which reacts with material within said liquid to produce agaseous product; means coupled to said dispersing means for removingsaid droplets of said liquid from said gaseous products, said removingmeans comprising a passage for conducting said droplets and said gaseousproducts, said removing means further comprising a chamber positionedadjacent said passage and holding water in proximity to said dropletsand said gaseous products for condensing said droplets and means coupledto said removing means for measuring the concentration of said gaseousproduct.
 4. An organic carbon analyzer system for analyzing a materialsuch as that found in raw sewage containing inorganic and organiccarbonaceous substances, said system comprising:first means for treatingsaid material to provide a first gas having a compound of carbon fromsaid inorganic carbonaceous substance; second means for treating saidmaterial with a second gas to carry away substances containing inorganiccarbon; a reactor coupled to an outlet port of said second treatingmeans for reacting said material with a gaseous reagent to carry offsubstances containing organic carbon, said reactor operating attemperatures sufficiently high to vaporize liquid of said material;means coupled to said reactor for removing droplets of liquid from agaseous effluent of said reactor, said removing means comprising apassage for conducting said droplets and said gaseous effluent, saidremoving means further comprising a chamber positioned adjacent saidpassage and holding cooling fluid in proximity to said droplets and saidgaseous effluent for condensing said droplets and means coupled to saidpassage of said removing means for analyzing said gaseous effluent.